Aviation Interest

On November 20, 2015, the FAA issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB CE-16-08) that advises GA pilots and operators of concerns with the use of noise cancelling headsets. In many cases, pilots are using the noise cancelling headsets as supplementary equipment during operations. When wearing these headsets, the pilot may be unaware of environmental sounds and audible warning annunciations in the cockpit that do not come through the intercom system.

On November 10, 2015, the FAA issued a final rule that removes certain redundant or underutilized ground-based nondirectional radio beacon (NDB) and VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs). Removing these NDB and VOR SIAPs (334 in total) is an integral part of right-sizing the quantity and type of procedures in the NAS, especially as a growing number of area navigation (RNAV) instrument approach procedures are made available. The complexity and cost of maintaining the existing ground based navigational infrastructure while expanding RNAV capability is not sustainable. To view the rule and the list of affected SIAPs and their removal dates, go to www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-11-10/pdf/2015-28478.pdf.

Industry sources estimate that 1 million drones will be sold this holiday season. Their increasing numbers has pilots concerned about their proper use, especially where they may interfere with aircraft operations. Even a very small drone can cause a catastrophic accident, if it collides with an airplane.

On October 2, 2015, the FAA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes to amend the regulations governing the curriculum and operations of FAA-certificated Aviation Maintenance Technician Schools. These amendments would modernize and reorganize the required curriculum subjects in the appendices of the current regulations.

[caption id="attachment_6410" align="alignnone" width="300"]Rescued pets wait to be loaded onto an airplane at the Livermore Municipal Airport in Livermore, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. Wings of Rescue is a nonprofit that flies California rescues to other parts of the country where they stand a better chance of getting adopted. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) ( ANDA CHU )[/caption]For scores of dogs running out of time in Bay Area shelters, Cindy Smith is something of an angel.

Not only does the Livermore woman work with rescue groups to save the dogs no one seems to want, she and a cadre of volunteer pilots fly the canines hundreds of miles northward, where loving homes await.